Guangxi Clique

The Guangxi Clique was a powerful warlord clique of China which was founded by the Zhuang Chinese warlord Lu Rongting in Guangxi, southern China. Lu succeeded in taking over Henan and Guangdong as well, making the Guangxi Clique a powerful force in the south. The clique, the Yunnan Clique, and the Kuomintang opposed Yuan Shikai's monarchy during the Warlord Era, but the Guangxi Clique later forced KMT leader Sun Yat-sen out of power.

In the early 1920s, Lu's old clique was forced out of power, and the pro-Sun clique rose up, with Bai Chongxi, Li Zongren, and Huang Shaohong leading it. The clique conquered Hangzhou and Shanghai in 1927, and the group had to raise high taxes due to wars with other cliques and the Japanese; opium was taxed to provide income to the clique. In March 1929, the Guangxi Clique split with Chiang Kai-shek, leading to their defeat in 1929 during the Central Plains War. The clique rebuilt Guangxi from 1930 to 1936, and they assisted Chiang during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1949, the Communist Party of China would take over China and destroy the warlord cliques.